Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away
by Alkoi
Summary: Dave Strider, resident insufferable prick on the meteor, has been distant and reclusive and Karkat can't handle people worrying incessantly, after taking a walk to calm down Karkat comes across something that will change his view on the Strider. YAOI Dave/Karkat DaveXKarkat CrabApples.


It was...whatever time it was on the meteor, you'd have to ask Dave, but right now no one really knew what was going on with Dave.

It wasn't that he was mentally unstable or anything, he was just acting...worrisomely.

Now everyone on the meteor knew his usual behavior, sarcastic, always talking in monotone and frequently bursting into raps or ramblings, used horrible euphemisms and loved apple juice.

Seriously when Rose was able to alchemise apples and other apple flavoured sustenance Dave had sat her down and forced her to show him how.

But for a while now Dave had retracted into a reclusive shell, you would rarely see him around the meteor, rather you would see him sitting in large empty spaces staring off into space, or lying up on high structures. Silence and solitude had become quite common around the red-clothed human...

And everyone was starting to get worried, even Gamzee, who hated Dave's guts and wanted nothing more than to send Dave hurtling out into the abyss of nothingness had to admit that it was "MoThERFuCkInG cReEpY tO sEe DaVe AlL uP aNd LiKe ThIs." and had even started leaving clown horns lying around wherever Dave hung out a lot, in an attempt to get him to respond.

Nothing worked, and Dave was still acting distant and... sad.

Karkat, after worrying and thinking and shouting a lot over how Dave was acting so oddly, was walking around the meteor hoping to calm down from the previous rage.

Wandering about and coming to an empty corridor of the meteor, he heard soft plucking of what seemed to be a stringed instrument and a low, rhythmic humming.

Karkat, wary, approached where the sound was coming from with trepidation. Turning a corner and seeing Dave, sitting up on a medium height support beam, holding an acoustic guitar, which was red with black accents, the strings were also red. Dave's snowy pale hair fell into his face as his head was ducked down, one hand wrapped around the neck of the guitar, pressing down different strings at different positions on the strings and using what seemed like a plastic tear-shaped disc to pluck all the strings at once with a stroke of his arm.

Dave nodded, as if satisfied with the sounds, and shuffled slightly. Karkat stiffened, not wanting to be caught watching as Dave shifted the hand on the neck of the guitar, humming slightly and tapping his foot in a 1-2-3-4 beat before starting to play a soft, melancholy melody. After a while of Dave playing the guitar he started singing softly, voice low but gentle, sending shivers down Karkat's spine.

"You are my sunshine.

My only sunshine.

You make me happy.

When skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear,

How much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away."

Karkat stared, what was Dave doing? This wasn't anything like his raps and was certainly a lot more pleasant on the ears, but he sounded so sad. Who was he talking about?

A wedge lodged itself in his heart, was he talking about someone he loved? If so then it was probably Terezi, the wedge in his heart twisted slightly, and he didn't know why.

"The other night, dear,

As I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms.

When I awoke, dear,

I was mistaken

And I hung my head and cried."

Dave seemed to pause slightly, blinking tightly as if something was in his eyes, Karkat gulped, he was crying? Who was so important to him that Rose, music, cartoons or comics couldn't make him any happier? Was this why he was acting so strange lately? Karkat sat down, leaning against the wall and making sure he couldn't be seen, listening to the nice singing of the sorrowful human.

"I'll always love you and make you happy

If you will only say the same

But if you leave me and love another,

You'll regret it all some day"

Dave quickly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his god-tier, before returning to play his guitar. Karkat shivered, the song left a cold feeling to settle in his stomach, why was Dave singing this? Was this him letting out why he was so distant? Karkat's raging mind had calmed as soon as Dave and started singing, and now images of Dave curled up on the high structures quivering and in tears made his hear pain.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You never know dear, how much I love you

Oh please don't take my sunshine away."

Karkat leant his head against the wall behind him, eyes wide and fearful, Dave's voice had small wobbles and a slightly watery sound, as if he was choking down even more tears, tilting his head slightly he saw Dave duck his head again, and a few more colourless droplets fall from his face, but he kept playing, not stopping even through the grief.

"In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me

When I awake my poor heart pains.

So wont you come back

And make me happy

I'll forgive you, I'll take all the blame."

Karkat clasped his hands in front of his mouth, gripping it closed as bright red tears slithered down his face, the emotion in Dave's voice was heavy, he felt the pressure push down on his chest, and he had to force down his small sounds of distress if only to ride out the rest of the song.

God...how could he not have noticed?

But who was causing him such pain? A sharp stab of jealousy sank into his chest before Karkat focused back onto the song, which sounded like it was nearing its end.

"You were my sunshine, my only sunshine

You made me happy, when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Oh please don't take my sunshine away,

Oh please..

Don't take my sunshine away."

Dave sung the last lyrics softly, as if tearing the sounds from his heart, before placing the acoustic guitar down next to him, shaking terribly as he curled around himself, sobs now louder and the only sounds in the now horrifyingly empty silence. He grabbed the aviators sat next to him, fumbling with them before placing them back down and curling even tighter into a fetal position, head buried between his knees and shoulders twitching with his crying.

Karkat watched, tears slipping from his eyes faster.

God, Dave looked like a mess, fuck, of course he was.

Karkat got up, hand on the wall to support himself as the other held his stomach as if to keep himself from falling back down into despairing tears. He got closer, enough to hear Dave talking between his knees.

"Karkat...jesus fuck." Dave raised his hands to tug harshly at his hair, letting out a sharp sob.

"Won't love me back...who would feel the same...look at me, I'm as well put together as a shattered barbie-doll some five year old glued together with a shitty-ass gluestick." He chuckled bitterly, the metaphor sounding flat and forced. Raising his head to look at the folded aviators next to him, Dave frowned."I'm a fucking mess."

"I-I do l-love you, you-you" Karkat stuttered through his tears, Dave's eyes snapped over to Karkat, wide and shocked, before shifting to the tears on Karkat's face.

Dave went to say something, before Karkat rushed forward and floated up quickly, tugging Dave into a tight hug, head tucked into Dave's neck as he wrapped his arms around the pale white-haired mess, feet landing on the structure as soon Dave wrapped his arms back around Karkat.

They tucked their heads into each others necks, shivering as they cried out all their grief, before the tears became tears of relief as they kept trying to tug each other closer.

"Did you really think that?" Karkat spoke softly, staring at the tufts of white hair on the back of Dave's neck.

"Think what?" Dave replied, trying to dodge the question, when Karkat's arms tightened around his waist.

"That I would never love you back?" Karkat asked again.

"...Yeah, kinda." Dave sighed out, nuzzling further into the embrace.

"I do. Love you, I mean-FUCK...It's just...I never thought you'd want to be with someone like me." Karkat explained quietly, eyes half-lidded and sad.

Dave shook his head, placing a loving kiss on Karkat's cheek.

"Guess we were both in the wrong?" Dave wondered aloud, smiling slightly, staring at the candy red blush on the nubby-horned troll.

"Y-yeah, I guess...and, about that song?" Karkat said, looking up into Dave's red eyes.

"Yeah?"

"...If I'm your sunshine." Karkat started, tugging Dave forward to kiss him on the lips, then pulling away and saying with as much love he could project in his voice.

"I will never, ever go away."

-End-

I had a hard time writing this without feels crushing my heart.

I love all kinds of ships.

I also love sad stuff sometimes.

I just wanted to take a break from my longer stories and get this out of my system, did you notice that this version of "You are my Sunshine" is sung by The Civil Wars? Great band by the way you should check them out when you get the chance.

Hope you liked it, review, rate, constructive criticism appreciated.

Flames are used to cook imaginary corpses.

Alkoi~


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